Wha--?? Impossible! Now, go wash your mouth out with--







Kirby's Superman. Yikes.

...and "Vykin the Black?" Uh...yeah. He did not need "black" as part of the name, like all of the other characters who had "black" in their names. Thankfully, John Stewart was not named "Black Green Lantern", and there was no "Black Falcon" or "Black Tyroc" or "Black Storm".....

December 1970


My DCs off the stands

Once again, not much off the stands. As I have mentioned, my neighborhood candy stores seemed to be stocking fewer and fewer comics. I still bought plenty of back issues at the collectibles store, but my new comic book buying decreased. 
That month I only bought these two DCs off the stands, on separate occasions: 




Adventure #397: I remember I had this one only because I copied the cover positions of Supergirl and Derek for a school art project.  With each issue Sekowsky's Supergirl was getting sillier and sillier...and there was no excuse for Sekowsky's assinine back-up feature for some nobody called Tracey Thompson (who?!). 

Forever People #1: I remember I bought this while visiting my grandmother. I sooo missed Kirby from the FF, and I really wanted to like his new DC stuff. What can I say other than this comic was a massive disappointment. For one thing by this time I was used to Kirby inked by Sinnott--so seeing him inked by Colletta (whose work I usually liked) was a comedown.  Colletta-on-Kirby was fine for my back issues, but this was 1970 dammit! And the dialogue, the story, oh it all seemed so hopelessly old-fashioned; and almost as silly as Sekowsky was becoming.  And it was so disappointing that the great Kirby had the sole woman member of the team as nothing more than a damsel in distress (I should have known, from the cover  , and from her costume--a scanty (of course!) Wilma Flintstone-okay-more-like-Betty-Rubble outfit).

I think this may have been the only issue of Forever People I managed to buy back when it was published.  I did buy a couple of more FP issues a couple of years ago when I got back into comics.  

Continuing with December 1970

Another lean month. As I have mentioned, it was getting harder and harder to find the specific superhero comics I liked in my neighborhood.  There were plenty of Archies on sale, and I bought those off the newsstands, but I don't remember which ones or any of the stories.

For Marvel that month, this is all I got off the stands: 




Amazing Adventures #5: cover by John Buscema. I'd bought issue 1 and 2, missed #3 and #4, and managed to pick up #5. Things had changed since issue #2; Adams had replaced Kirby as the Inhumans penciler and Colan had replaced Big John as the Black Widow penciler. I wasn't crazy about Adams's Inhumans; he made them all look too ugly, IMO. And I hated the way he drew boots for Black Bolt. I know, I know, it's more "realistc." But it looked awful, like BB was dressed in a hot rubber suit. Give me Kirby's BB or Buscema's sleek BB on the cover. Colan on the Black Widow was a different story; Buscema made her look glossy, but Colan made her look gritty, which was more fitting for the ambience of her feature. Colan gave her series a film noir-ish look; also the Everett inks were a perfect complement. 

Avengers #85: another cover by John Buscema. This cover's always been a favorite of mine. Story is okay; four of the Avengers get trapped in an alternate reality, and we get to see the Squadron Supreme (aka JLA analogues) here. I wasn't reading the Justice League comic at the time,  but obviously writers Roy Thomas and Mike Friedrich coordinated Avengers #85 and JLA #87 (both on sale this month), since the JLA contained some Avengers stand-ins. Can you spell "covert crossover" ? Check out an earlier Dec. 1970 post upthread by Prince Hal that depicts the Silver Sorceress, Jack B. Quick, and others.

Fantastic Four #108: cover by--him again? Yes please--John Buscema. It's my third favorite JB cover among these three by him and that's about the best thing I can say about this issue, which is a mess. Johnny Storm thinks he's having a dream and get this, his dream consists of Kirby images. You see, the beginning of this story uses mostly Kirby art (which was intended for an earlier FF issue) but when Johnny wakes up we're looking at Buscema art. So the book looks very disjointed and poorly cobbled together IMO. It's been said Marvel decided to use the Kirby pages because Kirby's Forever People and New Gods (for DC natch) were debuting on the stands this very same month. Not a classy move by Marvel, again IMO.  

Btw there was a hardcover called Fantastic Four Lost Adventures that contained the Kirby pencils inked by Sinnott and added to and expanded by Ron Frenz doing his best Kirby imitation.  I bought the book a few years ago and the "lost adventure" was just as unsatisfying as the story in #108. The book is worth owning, though, for the repros of the uninked Kirby pencils, which are also included. 

JANUARY 1971




Adventure 403 (Giant)
Reprint heaven with the Legionnaires, courtesy Jerry Siegel and Edmond Hamilton, with a John Forte grand slam on the art.

Aquaman 56
The end of the Silver Age for Aquaman in a memorable story about pollution in Lake Erie, vigilantism, and Detroit’s own costumed crime-fighter, the Crusader. A story well worth looking for, as it anticipates the themes of Watchmen and Alan Moore’s deconstructionist approach to super-heroes. Like many other under-the-radar DC titles at this time, Aquaman explored new ground and played with the conventions of comic books (as opposed to comic book conventions). I hated to see this title disappear. It would be only Justice League and the occasional B and B appearance for Aquaman for the next three and a half years, when he got a four-issue back-up in Adventure; over four years till he appeared on a cover after inheriting Adventure from the Spectre; and more than six till DC revived the Aquaman title with #57 in the spring of 1977.

Batman 230
Another ”torn from today’s headlines” stories as Batman meets the Guardian Angels… er, the Black Barons. This kinds of stories never work with Batman. Well, not with THE Batman, anyway.




Conan 4
Very few books increase in quality as quickly as Conan did. And with this issue, it begins monthly publication. Proof that this little beauty is catching on.

Detective 409
I still think this would have been a better cover if the figures were in each other’s position. The interior art didn’t come too close to capturing the mood of the cover.

Justice League of America #88
Approximately number 62 in an interminable series of disgraced, humiliated, loser Justice Leaguers covers. What th’? Mike Friedrich, God bless him, is still getting his sea legs as a writer. They’re more like D-minus legs, though.




Mister Miracle #1
Great cover, original story, headlong excitement. And how can you not love Oberon, the dwarfish alte cocker and technology maven?

Our Army at War #230
The usual good stuff, especially because of the USS Stevens story and the naturalistic style of Sam Glanzman.

Our Fighting Forces #130
Superb cover, and a book I remember well because it provided a typical respite of comic book comfort food on a particularly bleak, dispiriting Saturday afternoon.



Savage Tales #1
The Grail of the Month. Couldn’t find it anywhere until for some odd reason I was in good old Tony’s candy store slash bookie joint. (Now that I think of it, it was probably to see a friend who worked there.) Anyway, there on Tony’s dusty, neglected magazine rack was the one and only copy of Savage Tales I still have ever seen. “The Frost Giant’s Daughter” by Barry Smith was the crown jewel of the issue.



Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen #136
An ugly cover, but more Kirby insanity lay within! Weisinger had to be so pissed that Kirby was doing one of “his” comics. Kirby’s covers clearly outshone these Neal Adams toss-aways.

Tomahawk #133
Like Aquaman, (Son of) Tomahawk, another comic residing in the sticks of DC, gave you far more than your money’s worth every issue.

World's Finest #201
I think it was the rare combination of Infantino and Adams that got me to buy this.

(Pausing to check the interior.)

Yeah, it had to be, because the story was completely harebrained.

At first glance I thought Astonishing Tales #5 was a comic I'd read back then butlooking at the credits I see that Wally Wood didn'tdraw the Dr. Doom story this issue, so now I'm not so sure. I'd have to look at the Ka-Zar story, which according to the credits was still being drawn by BWS, to see if I remembered it.

Thanks for this info! I have to double-check my assumptions!

I didn't realize that Boltinoff had taken this over. He was one of my favorite editors (Tomahawk; Doom Patrol; Bob Hope, e.g.), and of course, he used Adams a lot on his covers, so it makes sense he'd use him here. 

Still, like you, I never really thought he did justice to Superman covers.